Publication: Stategies employed by principals to ensure effective Implementation of free secondary education in public Secondary schools in Githunguri district, Kiambu county,
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2013-10
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Mount Kenya University
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Abstract
Since independence the government has endeavored to ensure access, equity, retention,
relevance, internal and external efficiencies within the education system (Achoka, Odebere,
Maiyo & Mualuko, 2007). Rob et al (2004) say that the re-introduction of Free Primary
Education in Kenya in 2003 resulted into enormous enrolment of pupils in primary schools.
This is because education forms the basis upon which economic, social and political
development of any nation is founded. Investment in education can help to foster economic
growth, enhance productivity, contribute to national and social development and reduce social
inequality (World Bank, 1998). According to (UNESCO, 2005) the level of a country’s
education is one of the key indicator of its level of development. The launch of FSE in 2008
was meant to address illiteracy, low quality education and low completion rates at the secondary
level, high cost of education and poor community participation (Republic of Kenya,
2005).According to the FSE policy, the govern was expected to meet tuition fees of KHS 10,265
per student, while the parents were required to meet other requirements like lunch, transport
and boarding fees for those in boarding schools, besides develop projects They include; limited
physical facilities, shortage of personnel, inadequate relevant instructional resources and
overcrowded classrooms, high teacher pupil ratio in densely populated areas, diminished
community support following their misconstrued role in their implementation of the Free
primary Education initiative, and increased number of orphans as a result of HIV /AIDS, which
have impacted negatively on quality of teaching and learning on the other hand (Yieke, 2006 &
MOEST 2005).However, it was not clear whether adequate study had been done on admission
criteria, stakeholders’ consultation, principals’ expanded roles, principals’ inherent factors,
school discipline and adequacy of finances factors. Therefore, the main purpose of this project
was to investigate the strategies employed by principals to ensure effective implementation of
Free Secondary Education in Githunguri district, Kiambu County. The study employed a
descriptive survey research design; public secondary schools were sampled using stratified
sampling technique. The target population consisted 1080 respondents made up of 67 principals,
879 teachers, 67 school bursars and 67 boards of governor chairmen. Teachers will be randomly
sampled while principals, school bursars and board of governors chairmen were purposively
sampled yielding a total sample of (108) respondents made up of 48 teachers, 20 principals, 20
school bursars and 20 boards’ of governors chairmen. Data was collected using questionnaire
for principals and teachers. Interview schedule was used to gather data from the school bursars.
An observation schedule was employed to solicit information on FSE finances allocation and
examination analysis. Validity was done through pilot test study through the test re-test
technique and then Pearson product moment formula was used to compute reliability co-
efficient of 0.909 was obtained. Qualitative data collected was analyzed, by organizing it into
themes according to the researcher’s objectives and questions then inferences, conclusions and
recommendations was drawn. Quantitative data was analyzed using statistics and package for
social sciences (SPSS).